Jolla Sailfish OS handset launched

Finnish start-up Jolla has announced its first Sailfish OS smartphone, simply called the Jolla, with a 4.5-inch screen.

The Jolla smartphone will be the first to run on the Sailfish OS, which the Finnish company hopes will lure people away from Android and iOS platforms.

Jolla will have a 4.5-inch display of unknown resolution and will be powered by a dual-core processor, packing 16GB of integrated storage which can be expanded via microSD card.

Designed to look like two slabs that have been bonded together, the smartphone can be bought with a range of colourful cases that the phone will recognise, changing the visual theme accordingly.

“Attach the Other Half and your Jolla becomes alive and unique,” reads the Jolla website. “It becomes your other half, exactly as you want it to be. Magically the software changes to match your selected colour and design. Your Ambience. Your Jolla.”

The phone was originally called “The Other Half” for this reason, with the tagline “your other half, exactly as you want it to be.”

The Jolla smartphone will support 4G LTE, pack an 8-megapixel rear camera and a replaceable battery.

Finnish company Jolla was founded by a group of former Nokia employees who were keen to continue the development work they had undertaken with the MeeGo OS. The Jolla Sailfish OS is therefore the culmination of their work, and for extra market value, is able to run Android apps and games.

“At the core of Jolla is Sailfish, a mobile-optimized OS that has the flexibility of a unique, open platform.”

“We created a simple, beautiful and warm experience, with only glass between you and Sailfish. Content is presented clearly, with animations, haptics and sounds following an overall theme to support user interactions,” says Jolla of the Sailfish OS. “We developed the revolutionary UI around the concept of effortless interaction, designed to offer world’s best multitasking experience.”

The Jolla handset will cost “no more than” €399 (£338) in Europe, with expected availability at the end of 2013, especially if consumers sign up to the Jolla Movement.